Silver halide color light-sensitive materials used for the viewing, recording or storage of a dye image are always demanded to have higher image quality, and a large number of studies have been heretofore made thereon. For elevating the image quality of a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, a method of using an irradiation inhibiting dye or providing a colored layer to prevent halation, a method of reducing the thickness of hydrophilic colloid layer itself provided on a support to improve sharpness, a method of reducing the size of light-sensitive silver halide grains or controlling the shape of a dye cloud formed to improve the graininess, a method of employing a photographic coupler capable of giving a color-forming dye having excellent spectral absorption properties to improve color reproducibility, and a method of preventing unnecessary coloring of a support or a hydrophilic colloid layer provided thereon using the residual color of a dye or the like at the color development processing may be used. As a matter of importance, these functions must continue without varying depending on the conditions at the development processing or during storage.
In view of improvement of image quality, sharpness is particularly a very important property for silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials which may be enlarged at the viewing or transfer to a material for viewing, such as color photographic light-sensitive material for photographing, or for silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials conditioned on that an enlarged image is viewed, such as cinematic printing material.
Movies are projected through enlargement, accordingly, a light-sensitive material which is used in respective stages of photographing, cutting or projecting is demanded to have small graininess and high sharpness. Furthermore, in order to more effectively attain the special effect by the use of computer graphics in recent years, cinematic positive films are particularly demanded to have color reproducibility in higher saturation.
For the improvement of sharpness, it is generally effective to prevent halation or irradiation. To this purpose, a coloring agent such as dye is used. The coloring agent used to this effect is required to have the following capabilities:                (1) not to give chemically adverse effect on silver halide emulsion layers of a light-sensitive material, for example, not to cause change in sensitivity or fogging;        (2) to be completely decolorized during the photographic processing or be readily dissolved out from the photographic light-sensitive material not to leave unnecessary coloring on the material; and        (3) to have proper spectral absorption according to the use purpose.        
As the coloring means for preventing halation, a method of incorporating fine particle colloid silver into a specific light-insensitive hydrophilic colloid layer, a method of using a support having thereon a hydrophilic resin layer in which carbon fine particles are dispersed, and a method of incorporating a solid fine particle dispersion of a dye which is removable at the development processing, are known.
However, the method of incorporating fine particle colloid silver into a light-insensitive hydrophilic colloid layer cannot be used in principle in the system of recording information using silver produced by the development (for example, a black-and-white photographic light-sensitive material and a cinematic printing material having a sound track).
The method of using a support having a hydrophilic resin layer where carbon fine particles are dispersed is disadvantageous in that an exclusive bath must be provided so as to remove the resin layer at the development processing and this increase in the number of steps necessary for the color development contradicts to the nowadays trend toward simplified photographic processing. Furthermore, a large amount of washing water contaminated with carbon is discharged and this is not preferred in view of water saving and environmental conservation.
For the purpose of solving these problems, some methods of selectively coloring a specific hydrophilic colloid layer have been proposed. Examples of the method include a method of allowing a hydrophilic polymer containing a moiety having a charge opposite to the dye ion to be present together in a hydrophilic colloid layer so as to prevent diffusion of a dye described in JP-A-50-65230 (the term “JP-A” as used herein means an “unexamined Japanese patent application”), and a method of anchoring a dye in the solid dispersion state to a specific hydrophilic colloid layer described in JP-A-56-12639, JP-A-55-155350, JP-A-55-155351, JP-A-55-92716, JP-A-63-197943, JP-A-63-27838, JP-A-64-40827, EP-A-15601, EP-A-276566 and International Patent Publication No. 88-04794.
The method of using a solid fine particle dispersion of a dye which is removable at the development processing is an excellent method because the tone of colored layer can be controlled, both the sharpness of a dye image, as a target to attain, and the sensitivity can be obtained, and the method can be applied to cinematic positive film where a sound track is formed using silver produced by the development.
However, even in these methods, when a dye is added in an amount necessary for improving the sharpness, the dissolving out rate (i.e., the eluting rate) of the dye at the photographic processing inevitably decreases and it is difficult to attain both the sharpness and the reduction in white background coloration, which are important properties for the image quality. To solve this problem, investigations have been made for dyes having a tendency to keep the solid dispersion state in a hydrophilic colloid layer and capable of readily decolorizing or dissolving out at the processing, and dyes described, for example, in JP-A-2-282244 have been proposed.
With respect to the prevention of irradiation, a coloring method using a water-soluble dye is known. Examples of the dye include oxonol dyes described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,933, azo dyes, anthraquinone dyes, arylidene dyes, styryl dyes, triarylmethane dyes, merocyanine dyes and cyanine dyes.
However, in preventing halation by introducing a solid dispersion of a dye and preventing irradiation using a water-soluble dye, when a dye is added in an amount necessary for improving the sharpness, the dissolving out rate of the dye at the photographic processing inevitably decreases and it is difficult to attain both the sharpness and the reduction in white background coloration, which are important properties for the image quality.
These problems can be solved, as generally known, by reducing the thickness of a hydrophilic colloid layer itself provided on a support. More specifically, when the thickness is reduced, the dye can be readily dissolved out at the processing and a comparable effect of preventing irradiation can be obtained with a small amount of anti-irradiation dye.
As a result of progress in the projection technique in recent years, a stable and bright light source can be used at the projection. Therefore, the cinematic color positive film is required to have broader dynamic range, namely, higher color density. In order to realize the higher color density, a larger amount of silver halide emulsion or coupler must be introduced into a hydrophilic colloid layer and the design necessary therefor naturally contradicts the above-described reduction in the layer thickness. Accordingly, new means for obtaining higher color density with the same use amount is necessary.
As is well known, in a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, an aromatic primary amine color developing agent is oxidized using exposed silver halide and reacts with a coupler to provide a dye such as indophenol, indoaniline, indamine, azomethine, phenoxazine, phenazine or the like, thereby forming an image. In this photographic system, a subtractive color process is known and a color image is formed by yellow, magenta and cyan dyes.
For forming a cyan dye image, phenol or naphthol-base couplers have been heretofore used. However, the dyes formed from these couplers have disadvantageous absorption in the region of from yellow to magenta, as a result, the saturation is low and the molecular absorption coefficient is also low. Therefore, a large amount of coupler must be used for obtaining a necessary density.
In order to improve the hue of cyan image, heterocyclic compounds described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,728,598 and 4,873,183, and EP-A-0249453 have been proposed. However, these couplers have fatal defects such that the coupling activity is low or the dye formed has poor fastness.
As the coupler capable of overcoming these problems, pyrrolotriazole couplers described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,526 and EP-A-0545300 have been proposed.
The cinematic color positive film is repeatedly used by a motion picture projector in many cases and is required to have physical durability. In particular, red dotted failure called red spot failure resulting from lubricating oil of the projector entering into flaws generated in a hydrophilic colloid layer having a dye image and occurring on extracting the color-forming dye out of the film is a serious problem for the image quality.
After extensive studies, the present inventors have found pyrrolotriazole coupler is preferred as the cyan coupler and therefore, various investigations have been further made on silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials having introduced thereinto a pyrrolotriazole coupler having excellent properties. However the fact found there was that the extraction of cyan color-forming dye out of the film (so-called red spot failure) due to entering of lubricating oil of the projector is more serious than conventional.
To cope with the demand for simple and rapid processing of a transparent color photographic light-sensitive material, particularly of a cinematic color film, the present inventors have manufactured a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material using a solid fine particle dispersion of a dye having excellent suitability for removal at the development processing and high sharpness, where the dye is subjected to a heat treatment at 40° C. or more.
However, after studies in particular from the practical standpoint, this silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material is found to have a serious problem. That is, when the exposure conditions are actually adjusted in the morning in a laboratory to give a neutral gray and a sample aged for a relatively long time after the coating is exposed in the daytime under the same conditions, there arises a problem that the gray coloration is shifted. This is a critical problem for the improvement of productivity in a laboratory and for the stable maintenance of quality. Accordingly, the present inventors have further made extensive investigations on this matter. As a result, the following facts are found out.
Samples aged long after the coating is large in the temperature dependency at the exposure, particularly, undergoes great fluctuation in the sensitivity to yellow and cyan. More specifically, when the exposure conditions are adjusted to a neutral gray at a low temperature, particularly in the morning of winter season, and the sample is exposed under the same conditions in the daytime at an elevated temperature, there occurs a phenomenon such that yellow and cyan are sensitized and gray shifted to green tint results.
These problems do not arise when the above-described solid dye dispersion is not used. In other words, these problems are peculiar to the case where the above-described solid dye dispersion ensuring simple processability is used.